Nagios Lab Manual

The Lab Manual has now been developed into a full comprehensive Nagios Class.

The Nagios Basic Setup provides you with a concise manual that includes 10 Labs to help you set up and begin monitoring with Nagios. The manual is designed to provide concise step-by-step instruction that will help you start monitoring servers, desktops, printers, routers and switches. The information contained in the manual is designed to be used with the official Nagios documentation to help supplement what has been documented there.

Basic Configuration
The Basic Nagios Configuration will help you install and configure Nagios on a CentOS or Ubuntu server. You will learn how to monitor public services like FTP, HTTP, SMTP, etc. from the Nagios server. The file locations and how to manage configuration files are covered as well as how to set up users. Security with tcp_wrappers, a firewall and user management are demonstrated. The Web interfaces is discussed in how to set it up for different users and how to view and manage Nagios online.You will learn how to set up services and hosts to that they can be monitored. The Basic Configuration is covered in five Labs that take you step-by-step in setting up Nagios.Monitor Linux Boxes
NRPE is used to monitor Linux Boxes so the Nagios server can monitor users, processes, CPU, memory, etc. on Linux boxes. This section covers how to run manual commands for testing before you automate the monitoring of a Linux server or workstation.Monitor Windows Boxes
The NSClient++ is used on the Windows machines to monitor with NRPE. You will learn how to monitor applications, processes, users, CPU, etc. with NRPE and how to securely manage your Windows servers.Monitor Printers
Nagios allows you to monitor and manage printers connected to the network so you can verify toner level, paper jams, etc. The manual takes you through each step in setting up printer management.Monitor Switches and Routers
This section covers how to work with SNMP to develop checks for routers and switches on your network as well as other devices. SNMP or Simple Network Management Protocol will allow you to monitor many different kinds of network devices. In fact most network devices are capable of working with SNMP not just routers and switches. Though you can use NRPE or SSH to monitor servers, devices like switches and routers will require SNMP to monitor what is happening internally with them. .You will see how to setup a router port so you can review traffic stats and push those statistics into MRTG. The configuration of MRTG is covered in this section as well. You will learn how to use the tool snmpwalk which is installed with snmp-utils. This is a program you can use to find the OIDs that you may want to evaluate with SNMP.Passive Monitoring with NSCA
Learn how to monitor servers behind a firewall using NSCA and passive host and service checks.